RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://depress1.bandcamp.com/album/harna-u-ie-yje There is no stopping the engaging Andrej Nebb and you cannot keep a true artist down, which is why I am now holding a copy of the latest De Press album between my filthy paws. The 70-year-old Nebb sounds as inspired and determined as ever, and his skilled bring his musical…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/wildnessofficial/ Wildness released a great and well-written album back in 2022 titled Resurrection, which blended melodic rock/AOR and hard rock to superb effect, and ever since then I have been looking forward to a follow-up to said piece of work. Their new record, Avenger, picks up the musical narrative where its predecessor…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/TheBandBigDeal/ The Big Deal hail from Serbia, and “immediately accessible” would be an apt description of what the quintet delivers on this twelve-track opus of theirs. They have certainly progressed as musicians and songwriters since the last time I listened to their stuff, which would have been the First Bite LP from…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://agusaband.bandcamp.com/ Agusa is a most engrossing and delightful addition to the already impressive prog rock roster of Karisma Records. Formed in Sweden back in 2013 and having released several noteworthy songs and gems since then, this musically adventurous ensemble takes us right back to the late 60s and early 70s by means…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.bonfire.de/ I recall reviewing Bonfire’s Pearls all the way back in 2016 and loving their take on huge-sounding hard rock and classic heavy metal with heaps of groove and class to it, and Higher Ground, which is their latest output, is a statement of intent and shows that there is still a…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/TheFerrymenofficial/ The Ferrymen impressed me greatly when they released their One More River to Cross opus from 2022, and with a line-up that is comprised of nothing but pure talent and skill in the shape of multi-instrumentalist and producer Magnus Karlsson, singer Ronnie Romero, and drummer Mike Terrana, that was arguably not…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://kryptograf.bandcamp.com/album/kryptonomicon One of Bergen’s finest and most prominent exponents of genuinely inspired stoner rock is back with a thrilling new album that is bound to please fans of the band both old and new. We are of course talking about the mighty Kryptograf, i.e. the dynamic and tight quartet who churn out…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/wetofficialpage/ Receiving a new album by the fabulous international constellation known as W.E.T. is always a treat and this fifth full-length LP of theirs is no exception. Their line-up is akin to a wet dream (see what I did there?) to lovers of fist-pumping melodic hard rock and there is nothing…
Brazilian melodic hard rockers Landfall impressed me greatly with their spirited and energetic debut offering titled The Turning Point (2020) as it contained plenty of catchy tracks delivered with a sense of class and youthful vigor. The follow-up from 2022, Elevate, was a bit of letdown as it lacked those big, juicy hooks and memorable…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://theactualdarkness.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-on-toast Who could possibly resist the temptation of surrendering oneself wholeheartedly to a sparkling new album by the UK’s finest exponent of uplifting and raunchy rock ‘n’ roll, namely The Darkness? Not me, that is for damn sure! Dreams on Toast is basically the sound of the kick-ass outfit firing on all…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://rwake.bandcamp.com/album/the-return-of-magik It has been a long and occasionally torturous wait for a new album by the Arkansas mystics known as Rwake, but March this year will see the release of a vigorous new opus via Relapse Records titled The Return of Magik. More evocative and beautifully haunting than past exploits, these six…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://sykofantband.bandcamp.com/ The previous effort by the musically devious Norwegian prog rockers Sykofant, namely the self-titled album from last year, inhabited and exuded so many wonderful traits and positives that it became one of the highlights of 2024 to this scribe. The ferventness and vigor of said record also permeates this delightfully…
Last year I had the great pleasure of witnessing the hard-hitting Norwegian metal quintet known as Tessia live on stage in Bergen when they were competing in the Wacken Metal Battle semi-finals, and it was a night to remember. Not only was it a hugely memorable performance with the band firing on all cylinders and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/products/mc5-an-oral-biography-of-rock-s-most-revolutionary-band In this day and age, it might be nigh on impossible to imagine or even fathom just how pivotal MC5 truly were. Inhabiting a musical landscape that laid somewhere between raw garage rock and fierce proto-punk, these Detroit-based rebels essentially spearheaded a new movement that challenged pretty much every norm and…
– VENUE: Grieghallen – DATE: 21.02.2025 – ORGANIZER: Stageway The legendary Norwegian hard rockers TNT embarked on their Out from Under the Black Cloud tour roughly a week ago, and last night we had the great pleasure of witnessing the majestic event at one of Bergen’s best-sounding venues, namely the renowned Grieghallen. With very few…
VENUE: Cosmopolite SceneDATE: 11 February 25ORGANIZER: FKP Scorpio Full photo gallery: Rolling Quartz, an all-female rock band from South Korea, has been making waves in the global music scene since their formation in August 2019. The group emerged from the merger of two bands, Rolling Girlz and Rose Quartz, bringing together the talents of vocalist…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk/other-books/phil-lynott-renegade A few years ago, I had the great pleasure of reviewing a thoroughly engaging and superbly researched book on the mighty Thin Lizzy titled Are You Ready? Thin Lizzy: Album by Album by author Alan Byrne. Shortly after, I purchased Byrne’s biography on the vagabond of the Western world, i.e.…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://linktr.ee/officialshrike Shrike, who hail from the city of Preston in the UK, turned out to be a bit of a musical curve ball in the positive sense of the word. An intense listen in so many ways, this richly textured long-player of theirs defies any attempt at pigeonholing and can perhaps…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://thebreathingmethod.band/ From the windswept shores of glorious Scotland comes this grunge-flavored slice of hard and heavy rock courtesy of The Breathing Method. Entitled After Everything Else and containing eleven tracks that recall some of the darker and more sludgy material coming out of Seattle and New York City in the late…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.thinlizzyofficial.com Considering the evocative and heartfelt nature of the first three Thin Lizzy albums from the early seventies, the prospect of immersing oneself in acoustic renditions and re-workings of some of the very best compositions from those exciting days appeared highly intriguing and interesting to this scribe. So how does the…
